Staff representative Jim Sweeney, who works in the library, questioned the school’s “dithering” over whether to close the campus on Monday, March 7, during the storm that brought nearly 80cm of snow to Lennoxville.

Although classes were canceled on the 7^th, the university remained open for business, albeit on limited hours.

Sweeney noted that many staff members are paid by the hour, and do not get paid if they do not show up to work – and some ventured to campus that day, when sidewalks were impassable and road conditions were poor.

He also mentioned that Champlain College and l’Université de Sherbrooke were both closed, as were schools in the Eastern Townships School Board.

Principal Michael Goldbloom launched into an animated and passionate response to Sweeney’s complaint, defending the school’s decision.

“I accept the assertion that people feel things were not clear… (but) I think, generally, we took the right approach,” he said.

Goldbloom said that two principles underpin Bishop’s: first, the health and safety of its students, staff and faculty; and second, being a residential university and providing for nearly 600 students who live on campus.

To Sweeney’s point about employees coming to campus on such a day, Goldbloom said, “If we can (come to work), we should – and if we can’t, we shouldn’t.”

He added that all university employees would be paid for the snow day.

The chair of the Board of Governors, Squee Gordon, chimed in that he did not think the Board was the appropriate place for this issue to be brought up, calling it an “operational matter.”

Jackie Bailey would like to say that Bishop’s offers excellent student services – but she’s not there yet.

Bailey has just assumed the position of Dean of Student Affairs, taking the reins from Bruce Stevenson, who retired at the end of last semester after six years as DSA.

On the job just three weeks, Bailey is already full of ideas on what her term will look like at the school she credits with kick-starting a long career in counseling.

The new Dean graduated from Bishop’s with a BA in Psychology in 1995. From there, she went on to do her Master’s at McGill and then her PhD (both in Educational Psychology) at the University of Alberta.

Since leaving Bishop’s, Bailey has bounced around a number of counseling positions, including a stint as Director of Student Support at the University of Alberta’s School of Education, with a student population of 3400.

That job was a sort of hybrid between DSA and VP Academic; Bailey handled all student matters, from counseling to the classroom.

Bailey says that at her old job, she strived for fairness when addressing students’ concerns – which will be crucial when she must play the school’s chief disciplinarian as the DSA.

“Typically, when students have left my office in the past… I’ve never had a student make a complaint that they were treated unfairly,” she said.

“They still might not have liked the outcome, but they’ve never said that they didn’t feel supported or listened to.”

During her interview with The Campus, Bailey emphasized the importance of listening to students, both in disciplinary situations and when trying to refine the quality of services offered by the departments she oversees.

“My hope is that I will do a more thorough assessment of student satisfaction with student services on this campus… so that I get a sense of, where are students happy and where are they unhappy in student services.

“And my main question is: How would you like it to be different?”

Bailey laid out ambitious plans for garnering feedback from the students of Bishop’s, starting with informal discussions anywhere from residences to Little Forks.

Speaking in an office that already feels more hers than Stevenson’s, Bailey made it clear that some students have already given her the impression that they’re dissatisfied with the services they get at Bishop’s.

“I have to be sensitive to the fact that a sample of one isn’t necessarily widespread. On the flipside, I don’t think that even if one person tells me, ‘I really struggled with that service,’ that that’s okay.”

But she doesn’t pretend to have the solutions packaged up and ready to roll.

“I think that, as administrators, we make mistakes when we assume that we know what the student body wants,” she said, explaining that what worked when she was a student nearly 20 years ago, may not work again today.

Bailey also remarked that despite her long absence from Lennoxville, not much seems to have changed, and joked that she sometimes expects to see her friends walking about campus.

“It’s fundamentally the same thing: figuring yourself out with your friends, away from home,” she said, adding that the university has a major role to play in that regard.

“There’s still a really clear mission and mandate from the university: to try and be student-centered, to care about teaching, and to have small classes.

“I know we don’t do it perfectly – and we didn’t do it perfectly then, either – but there’s still that fundamental belief that knowing your students’ names and remembering who they are and being in a much more connected teaching relationship with your students; those things matter.”

She also said that Bishop’s struggle to shake its party-school reputation has been an ongoing battle since before her time.

“As an institution, we continue to do things that perpetuate that reputation. (But) is it justified? Obviously not,” she said.

Bailey, a basketball star from her days at Bishop’s and outdoors enthusiast, added that she has enjoyed the events held so far this semester and that she would like to see events like the Rail Jam in the Quad recur and grow next winter.

A Bishop’s University psychiatrist was recently found guilty of one count of professional misconduct by the Ordre des Psychologues du Québec.

A former Bishop’s student, known only as “S.T.” because of a publication ban on her real name, filed the charges against Sandy-Lee Ward, a councilor, back in August 2009.

Ward has been on medical leave from the university since 2008.

S.T. outlined three accusations against Ward: that she contacted her parents, her ex-boyfriend’s family, and the ex-boyfriend himself, revealing that S.T. was a patient of hers.

She claimed that these three actions all violated doctor-client privilege.

The Order cleared Ward of the first two allegations, declaring that her actions fell under clauses that allow for a patient’s identity to be revealed in extreme circumstances.

S.T., the order’s decision reveals, showed up at Ward’s house drunk one night in December 2008. Ward took the woman’s car keys away, and called her parents to request that they pick her up.

She also called S.T.’s ex-boyfriend’s parents, to warn them that their grandchildren might be in danger.

In its decision, it said that Ward was “not only authorized, but had an obligation” to call anyone who might be exposed to danger.

Ward claimed that she obtained S.T.’s permission to call the parties in question, because she feared for her accuser’s safety.

The order ruled that these breaches of confidentiality were acceptable under article 18 of the code of ethics, which allows psychiatrists to contact anyone who might be able to help a client in danger.

Ward was found guilty of revealing to S.T.’s ex-boyfriend that she was treating the plaintiff, in an incident separate from the one that spurred the first two accusations.

The case has stirred strong feelings in the community.

Former Sherbrooke Record editor Jen Young attacked the accuser on her Facebook page, claiming she knew “for a fact that the plaintiff set Sandy up.

“I myself informed the police at one time of this plaintiff and pursued a restraining order,” Young wrote.

There will be another hearing to decide on a penalty for Ward, which could range from a fine or a reprimand to a loss of her permit to practice.

After the penalty is handed down, both parties will have 30 days to appeal the case to the Tribunal des Professions.

ore than two weeks after the worst flood in years hit Bishop’s, students are still feeling its effects on- and off-campus.

Two houses on College Street remain vacant, due to serious flooding in their basements.

Bishop’s student Dayna Hammond explained that the houses’ foundations were tested, and found to be contaminated, most likely because it was sewer water that seeped in during the flood.

Students living in the two houses have been told that they should be able to move back in no later than November 15 – six weeks after the waters receded.

The houses’ residents were offered to break their leases if they did not want to wait, though Hammond said she didn’t believe anyone was going to opt for that.

“It’s just nice to finally know for sure what’s going on and when we can move back in”

In the interim, the affected students are living in either Paterson Hall or the Motel Lennoxville, and are not being charged rent.

The houses remain empty until then because crews are “going to rip up [the] floors, treat them and put new ones in,” Hammond said.

In addition to structural repairs, Hammond said that he houses’ furniture was being inventoried.

“They’re also cleaning any furniture they believe may have been contaminated and if they have to throw anything out it’s either being replaced or we’re being compensated for them,” she said.

The two houses on College were by far the worst affected, though the damage was not limited to off-campus.

Perhaps the most severely affected building on campus was Centennial Theatre, whose basement is one of the lowest points on campus.

The basement, which normally houses props, scenery and other Drama Department materials, has been gutted of nearly all its contents, and filled with numerous machines to sap the air of its humidity.

The power in Centennial remained shut off for two weeks, and was returned with just hours to spare before Jayme Stone took to the stage for a concert last Friday night.

As of Tuesday afternoon, full power had not yet been restored, though it was expected to be back on Wednesday morning, said Technical Director Michael Medland.

Some elements of the theatre will remain unavailable for longer, such as the stage elevator, which will likely be beyond use until the end of November.

Neighbouring Turner Studio Theatre was also off-limits following the flood, but regularly scheduled classes have been restored to their rightful homes in the rehearsal rooms.

But one change will still be felt this semester: the Drama department has moved its production of Cinderella from the end of November to the second week of March.

Medland explained that it couldn’t have been done on time because of the flood.

“We will have lost, by the end of this, at least three weeks of time that we needed to ge tthe show technically together,” he said.

Following a drastic gutting of the university’s governing structures earlier this year, the still-fresh Board of Directors will hold its first proper meeting this coming Friday.

The board is a seriously watered-down version of Corporation (the unwieldy 63-person body that used to call the shots), counting just 17 members around its table. And while Corp voting itself out of existence was an impressive and long overdue step forward, there is at least one glaring flaw in the new membership.

Students comprise the biggest constituency at the university: between full- and part-timers, there are more than 2500 of us this year.

So it’s more than a little strange that just one student will sit at the table where decisions are made on Friday.

While this is admittedly a marginal improvement on Old Corp (where there were three students out of 63 members), it is a serious oversight on the part of the Governance Task Force.

The task fore was, of course, bound by certain strictures – namely the impending provincial legislation that will regulate the size and makeup of universities’ governing boards – but it is entirely possible, under these regulations, to add another student.

In addition to being the biggest group on campus, students are, if you buy into the basic premise that universities exist to educate, also the most important. While education wouldn’t be possible without the other groups – administrators, faculty and staff – it would be pointless without us.

I would grant that board members should probably carry a certain degree of institutional memory – which is why it’s important to have veterans like Prof. Bill Robson on the new board. But this is no excuse, not even a little, to count only one student among its members.

Putting one sole student on the board is a polite way of telling the school’s main source of income that they don’t matter.

The notion that people who spend one weekend per month at the university are better suited to decide its fate is flatly absurd and blatantly unjust.

The students of Bishop’s University are more than capable of handling and understanding the issues discussed around the round tables of McGreer 100. They’re not complicated and we’re not stupid.

While the Board (or at least its predecessor) might sometimes feel dull, and it’s difficult to make a two-hour Friday afternoon meeting sound like a weekend in Atlantic City, but if called upon to show up, students would answer.

None of this is to say that those around the table in May had any malicious intent in approving the revolutionary new governing structure, but that vote was not the last chance. Students can – and should – still be brought into the decision-making process.

If the Board does not vote to give students a louder voice (and it won’t), it needs to bring students into the fold somehow. The Council of Advisors should be packed with student bodies, including those still enrolled and those who only recently crossed the stage at Convocation.

—–

Bishop’s Should…

The Campus will be printing a special section in its last issue of the semester: “Where Are We Going?” – a collection of articles from a variety of voices (mostly students) who will pitch ideas, big and small, for the university’s future. We are now welcoming submissions from anyone; the best ones will be printed (and are subject to editing). For more information or to fire off your two cents right away, send us an email at thecampus.editor@gmail.com

Murky waters crept into the ghetto and forced students from their homes last Friday as intense rains pushed the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers over and above their natural boundaries.

The rains lasted for several days, but the waters didn’t crest until just past 11:00 Friday night, at which point they were more than 24 feet above the riverbed.

The CBC reported that in the 24 hours before the flooding began, nearly 10 centimeters of rain had fallen in the Sherbrooke area.

The waters flooded Optimist Field, the Champlain practice field, the lawn in front of McGreer, as well as parts of College and Little Forks Streets.

Although order and normalcy were quickly restored to the town and university, several students are still feeling the effects of the flood.

Reed Street was evacuated on Friday (residents were allowed back the next day), and a number of houses on College Street remain vacant.

Bishop’s student Dayna Hammond was one of the unfortunate few who live in a house at the lowest point on College Street. The earliest she’ll be allowed back into her house is today (Wednesday).

“I think it’s great that BU students can turn even a bad flood into something good,” Hammond said, “but I don’t think most of the students realized the severity of the situation.

“A lot of people are basically homeless right now and we’re not even sure we’ll be able to move back into our house,” she said.

The damage was not limited to off-campus housing; the flood also dealt a serious blow to Centennial Theatre.

By the time the waters began to recede, the theatre’s basement floor was hidden beneath several feet of sludge and water.

The basement contains much of the theatre’s electrical infrastructure, which was powered down Friday afternoon. The theatre, as well as the adjacent Turner Studio Theatre and Foreman Art Gallery, remains bathed in darkness as crews from Première Action clean up and disinfect the basement.

Technical Director Mike Medland, whose office is still without power, said the theatre basement was “filthy everywhere”.

The theatre will remain closed until at least October 15, and Première Action expects to be working at Bishop’s for the rest of the month.

The basement also contains a slew of Drama Department props and set pieces, many of which have been rendered beyond stage-worthy.

In addition to forcing the cancellation of several performances, the flooding has pushed out the numerous Drama courses which are taught in and around the Turner Studio Theatre.

For the time being, these courses are being taught in the ‘blue room’ in Mackinnon Hall.

Director of Buildings and Grounds, Michel Caron, said that minor flooding also took place in the basement of Abbott Hall, as well as the below-ground corridor that connects the Nicolls and Johnson buildings.

Mid-afternoon, the university decided to cancel all on-campus events for the evening, over concerns of accessibility.

The College Street bridge was closed to vehicles for most of Friday afternoon, but was reopened by Saturday morning as the road began to dry.

Despite cancellations and employees punching out early, campus (including the residences) was not evacuated.

Director of Security Dan Major explained that the campus only evacuates if all three entrances are inaccessible; throughout the deluge, one entrance (the one nearest to McGreer) remained open.

Campus became a virtual peninsula that afternoon, as vehicles were forced to leave the inundated university via the St. Francis bridge (towards BCS).

This inevitably led them into a 45-minute crawl through snarled traffic in downtown Sherbrooke, which also saw a handful of road closures.

Major added that he “appreciated everyone’s cooperation in such a volatile situation”, noting that students generally listening when they were advised not to take a dip in the newly formed Optimist Pond (though one students did dive off the iconic arches into the rushing waters).

Researchers made crucial progress this summer in answering some of the myriad questions that still plague the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

The degenerative memory disorder has defied comprehension for years, but recent months have seen several key studies released, with several of them zeroing in on a type of plaque that typically accumulates on the brains of Alzheimer’s victims.

The plaque, produced by the amyloid beta peptin, has long been considered a possible cause of the disease, but proved elusive in testing.

Previously, the plaque was only detected in postmortem tests.

That may have changed this summer, when Philadelphia-based Avid Radiopharmaceuticals announced that it had developed a scan to spot amyloid plaque buildup before a patient dies.

Alzheimer’s diagnosis to date has largely relied on less concrete data, such as memory tests, which has led to many misdiagnoses.

The New York Times’ Gina Kolata, who has written extensively on the disease, reported that “even doctors at leading medical centers have been wrong as often as 20 per cent of the time.”

About a month after Avid’s announcement, a study in the Archives of Neurology reported that a spinal fluid test might have 100 per cent accuracy in detecting the presence of amyloid (not to be confused with a 100 per cent success rate in predicting the disease).

The fluid test is carried out with a spinal tap, which remains a somewhat controversial procedure because of its association with intense headaches.

Despite these important recent discoveries, the medical community is still years away from effectively combating Alzheimer’s. There is neither a treatment nor a cure for it, but research continues at a quickened pace.

In the meantime, the Alzheimer Society reports that half a million Canadians have Alzheimer’s or a related form of dementia.

The society also says that more than 100 000 will develop dementia this year – approximately one every five minutes.

—

For constant updates on Alzheimer’s research, we highly recommend you check out the writings of Gina Kolata from the New York Times, whose articles were our main source for this article. She’s good stuff.

Several prominent business groups have joined the chorus of organizations denouncing the Harper government’s decision to jettison the mandatory long-form census.

Over the long, hot summer of statistics, the Canadian Association of Business Economics, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce all voiced their opposition to the move.

Small businesses stand to suffer the most from the loss of the long-form census because they cannot always afford to carry out their own research. Instead, they rely on the data from Statistics Canada – often regarded as one of the best data-collecting agencies in the world.

Ted Mallett of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business put it gingerly, writing that “there are more appropriate solutions available” than scrapping the mandatory long-form census.

Speaking to the Globe and Mail in July, Linda Pickard of Pickard & Sons took a more drastic view of the situation, saying “the picture of life in Canada will be fragmented” by the Conservative decision.

Pickard’s firm uses census data to advise small businesses that are planning to expand.

Concerns have also been raised about the cost and process of the census shake-up.

The government’s new voluntary long form will be mailed out to one-third of households, whereas the mandatory form was previously only sent to one-fifth.

This new survey will cost an additional $30-million, bringing the budget for the 2011 census up to $660-million, according to The Hill Times, a Parliamentary newspaper.

Several groups have also claimed that the government’s decision was ideologically driven and not based on consultation with experts.

This appeared to be vindicated by the resignation of Munir Sheikh, the country’s chief statistician, who stepped down at the peak of the firestorm over the census changes, ostensibly because he felt the government was misrepresenting his views on their decision.

In a press release on the Statistics Canada website, Sheikh made it clear that a voluntary survey could not be an adequate replacement for the mandatory one.

The decision was quietly announced at the end of June, and stayed in the headlines for weeks as groups ranging from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to five provincial governments all expressed concerns over the quality and integrity of the data produced by a voluntary census.

Education groups have also joined the chorus, with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and the Canadian Association of University Teachers coming out in opposition to the changes.

CASA, which the Bishop’s SRC left last year, said that selection biases inherent in a voluntary survey “undermine the confidence, reliability, and usefulness of the data collected”.

“The strength of a mandatory census is to eliminate this bias”, National Director Zach Dayler said.

The Prime Minister remained silent on the subject for most of the summer, deferring to Industry Minister Tony Clement, who maintained that the mandatory long-form census was eliminated due to privacy concerns.

The Corporation of Bishop’s University effectively voted itself out of existence last month, adopting a motion to scrap the unwieldy governing body and replace it with a much smaller board of governors.

The proposal, presented to Corp by the Governance Task Force, represents a “sweeping change in the governing structure of the university,” according to Corp president Robert Gordon.

The shift has been described as the most drastic governance overhaul since Bishop’s severed its ties with the Anglican Church in 1947.

Among the more drastic changes in the new statutes are a greatly reduced governing board (from 63 members to 17), the abolition of the Executive Committee, and a reduction in size of the Committee on Life at the University (CLU).

As far as committees go at a university overburdened by bureaucracy, CLU is one of the most influential on students’ daily affairs; its purview includes the Code of Student Conduct and the Alcohol Policy.

Furthermore, its budget subcommittee decides what to do with the $685 that each student pays in annual student services fees.

CLU is also the most student-heavy body at the school; currently, 12 of its 25 members are students. After the committees have been restructured this fall, CLU will shrink to just seven members, four of whom will be students – including the chair.

To contrast, only one student will sit on the board of governors. It is not the SRC President ex officio, but sitting President Paige Johnson told The Campus that she will assume the lone student’s seat on the new board of governors.

Currently, three SRC members sit on Corp – the President, the VP Academic, and the Corporation Representative (“Corp rep”). Johnson said that if students are given a seat on the Council of Advisors (an advisory board to the Board of Governors), the Corp rep will assume that seat. If not, then the position of Corp rep will be eliminated.

The new statutes also contain a minor but noteworthy change in academic freedom for students.

Previously, students had “the right of enrolment in courses regardless of race, sex, religion or politics.” This has been updated to read, “the right of enrolment in courses regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or politics.”

The statutes are the product of a long and arduous process which began in October 2008, and which has seen a number of intense discussions, according to Gordon, who joked that the governance task force’s meetings occasionally turned violent.

The task force was formed following news that the provincial government would be introducing a bill to strictly regulate universities’ governing bodies.

The bill (Bill 38), which has not yet been passed, includes mandatory gender equality on schools’ boards of governors, as well as a provision that one member of the board shall be selected by the province.

At its spring meeting on May 15, one Corp member wondered aloud if the new statutes were entirely necessary, given that the legislation is not guaranteed to pass.

President Robert Gordon responded that the massive changes are necessary regardless of the fate of Bill 38.

Other concerns raised included the large proportion of exterior members on the new board of governors. It was suggested that if exterior members are expected to attend all board meetings (at least six per year), it could limit the talent pool to Quebec and Ontario.

Corp member Drew Leyburne said that one solution to this was for the new board to explore teleconferencing and videoconferencing as viable alternatives to six-a-year trips to Lennoxville. This option is also encouraged in the statutes themselves.

Despite a handful of relatively minor concerns, Corporation approved the statutes unanimously, and the room was filled with enthusiastic applause from all sides after the vote.

The statutes, weighing in at a hefty 45 pages, will come into effect on September 14.

Somewhere above the Valentine on Queen Street, there hangs a poster.

The poster, which predates the apartment’s tenants by nearly two decades, ponders, “How should you choose a university?”

Below the text are two purple porcupines, one with longer eyelashes and a pink bow in its quills, nuzzling adorably, with tiny red hearts fluttering between their noses. And below them, the answer:

“Very carefully…”

That used to work. In 1970, that was good enough for Bishop’s to recruit with: porcupines.

But today, this university finds it rather a struggle to define itself – both inwardly and outwardly.

“What is Bishop’s?” We all have our stories; we’ve told them to friends over beers, to parents over dinner, and countless other times and places. But what do they amount to?

Some view this place as a Dionysian playground, where all you need to make it from Monday to next Monday is a bit of madness and a lot of wine.

Others come here because of the romantically quaint town: two traffic lights, a public library smaller than most fast food joints, and the arches that grace the path to the Promised Land.

Others still land in the borough for what would seem to be the most obvious reason: to gain an education – be it in business, in the arts, or just in the way of the world.

How do you bottle that? How can a school of nearly 2000 students with scattershot interests and lifestyles condense all their experiences into a razor-sharp slogan that leaps off the page and grabs potential students by the collar?

The recruitment office is working on that. Some prospects are promising (“Become You”), while others fail to incite any excitement (“Prerequisite for life,” which thankfully was never used).

Of course, for the recruitment office to sell Bishop’s, Bishop’s must first find out what it’s all about.

This year alone, The Campus has run three articles – one by an editor, and two which were unsolicited – decrying the lack of spirit and involvement at the university.

The authors cite several different symptoms of this declining spirit, but they all targeted the sparsely populated rowdy sections at this year’s games – football, basketball, everything. This is reinforced by dwindling attendance at Happy Hour and other events across campus.

These three writers say that Bishop’s is losing itself. That may be true, but having landed in Lennoxville in September 2007, I’m too young to judge. However, what if it’s part of a broader cultural shift?

In all aspects – academics, administration, student life – Bishop’s is in the midst of a strange transitional phase, where we’re out of the woods but still hunting for a compass.

Defining ourselves in the woods was easy, if inaccurate: a mismanaged school for misbehaved students. But without a certain Principal (with whom we wisely and euphemistically “parted company”) and with the number of couch fires per capita spiraling downward, we can no longer rely on the labels of days gone by.

Which leaves us here. Bishop’s can sustain and grow its student population easily enough; it is often said that the university’s students and alumni are its best ambassadors – and that’s absolutely true. But it might not be enough.

Nobody knows where Bishop’s is going. There are certain reliable indicators: enrollment is going up. Deficits are diminishing. No labor strife in the offing. Numerous athletes are gaining national recognition. It’s all good news.

But good news only gets you so far; eventually, Bishop’s needs to decide what it is. Is it a primarily undergraduate, liberal arts institution? A Pabst Paradise? A school of business, or of education, or of the humanities? None of the above?

We’ll see. This university, which we call home for perfectly legitimate reasons, will find its way again. But where the path leads us might not even remotely resemble where we’ve been, or where we are now.

That is no reason to look toward the future with trepidation. Bishop’s, though a tremendous place as-is, should never settle for the status quo, be it in academics or in student life.

The next few years may be some of the most formative that Bishop’s has seen in decades. It would be a shame to see this opportunity wasted on what we are rather than what we may be.